Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

I shall deal with government amendments 29 and 32 together as they are related. In bringing Revenue and Customs functions within the remit of the border force, officials of the UK Border Agency will be given the same or similar powers to those used at present by officers of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (Application to Revenue and Customs) Order 2007 and the Police and Criminal Evidence (Application to Revenue and Customs) Order (Northern Ireland) 2007, which I shall refer to for these purposes as the Revenue and Customs PACE orders, provide for the application of important powers and safeguards relating to the investigating of offences are applied to HM Revenue and Customs. These include powers for the investigation of Revenue and Customs offences at the frontier and elsewhere and for the designation of custody suites and custody officers, as well as for the application of safeguards in relation to those persons who have been detained. We need to ensure that in so far as they will in future be investigating and detaining people for the same offences, and exercising the same functions at the border as officers of HMRC do currently, the designated customs officials of the border force have the same powers and are required to provide the same safeguards. It is our intention, therefore, that the vast majority of the substantive provisions of the Revenue and Customs PACE orders should apply in future to criminal investigations in relation to customs matters conducted by designated customs officials of the border force, as well as to any persons detained by such officials. Certain provisions in the Revenue and Customs PACE order are excluded. This is because they are unnecessary or they relate to investigative tax functions and will not be required by the UK Border Agency. For example, the powers relating to production orders in tax investigations are not applied to the UK Border Agency because it would not be appropriate to do so. In summary, this clause effectively applies the bulk of the provisions of the Revenue and Customs PACE orders to designated customs officials in the UK Border Agency exercising equivalent functions. It will ensure seamless applications of PACE to those officers transferring from HMRC to the UK Border Agency, until a further bespoke PACE application order is made in relation to the border force customs and immigration functions under Clause 22. As a consequence of the introduction of the new clause on the application of PACE that government Amendment 29 seeks to insert in Part 1, we have also tabled Amendment 32. Amendment 32 inserts a new subsection into Clause 22. This new provision will enable an order made under Clause 22 to amend or repeal the new clause on the application of PACE, the detail of which I have just outlined. As I mentioned, Amendment 29 will enable the transfer of HMRC officers to the UKBA, while keeping all their existing powers, until a further bespoke PACE application order is made under Clause 22. We also intend to use the order-making power under Clause 22 to replace the Immigration (PACE Codes of Practice) Direction 2000 and the Immigration (PACE Codes of Practice No 2 and Amendment) Direction 2000 made under Section 145 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. In doing so, we will also seek to bring together in one place the PACE powers and safeguards to be applied in relation to the border force customs and immigration functions. Amendment 32 ensures that the order-making power in Clause 22 is sufficiently flexible to deliver that objective. I would ask the Committee to accept Amendments 29 and 32.